Picking a 3 Gun Shotgun that feels good to you personally
The importance of having a 3 Gun shotgun that feels good to you cannot be overemphasized. Many guys focus so much on picking the "best" or the most expensive shotgun and the truth is that they often end up with a shotgun that is not well suited for them. The best shotgun for someone else will not necessarily be the best shotgun for you. There is no one right answer or one size fits all 3 Gun shotgun.
What is important is that you patiently search and learn what works for you and then stick with that. Always be open to change if you come across something that works even better for you down the road, but whatever you do, don't let other people's opinions and preferences effect your decision...go with what feels good to you. It is definitely worth trying out alot of shotguns and reading reviews on alot of shotguns compared side-by-side. As you learn what aspects of shotguns make the most difference for you, reading such reviews will become more and more valuable to you because you will know which pieces of the puzzle are the most critical to your own personally accuracy and speed in shotgun shooting for 3 Gun competitions or any other competition.
The primary personal preference factors that you should consider when find your best 3 Gun shotgun are:
Body Size
If you are relatively small, carrying a heavy 12 gauge shotgun can get tiring, slow you down, fatigue you, and consequently cause you to shoot inaccurately. Not only that, but the powerful kick that a 12 gauge shotgun creates can throw you off balance, cause you to lose sight of your next target and force you have to waste time regaining your balance and re-acquiring your shotgun target. This is simply not acceptable when you are in a 3 Gun competition and speed is the name of the game. In this case, it may be worth shooting a 20 gauge and just learning to be very accurate so as to make sure that you hit all of your 3 Gun shotgun targets dead center.
On the other hand, if you are big and/or very strong a 12 gauge 3 Gun shotgun may actually feel light to you and not fatigue you at all. The kick may not throw your balance or aim off between shots at all. If this is the case the extra power of the 12 gauge would be an advatage to you because it will give you a little margin for error when shooting at the shotgun targets in a 3 gun competition. Since your shotgun has so much power, you may be able to drop big steel target even when you don't hit them dead center.
Experience
Some people who have been shooting a pump shotgun for their entire life are extremely fast at shooting with a pump shotgun. Cocking between shots has become second nature to them and as a result this action gets exceedingly fast. Often people like this can actually shoot faster with a pump shotgun than most other shooters can with a semi-automatic shotgun. In this case, these shooters may consider using a pump shotgun for their 3 Gun shotgun because in spite of its reputation for being slower, the truth is that for them it is actually extremely fast because of their speed and skill at pumping the shotgun and pump shotguns are much less likely to jam or malfunction than semi-automatic shotguns so on that aspect these shooters will have a distinct advantage.
Accuracy
For shooters that are extremely accurate shooting a shotgun, there may be an adavtage to shooting a 20 gauge simly because it has such a minimal kick and minimal muzzle rise, allowing the shooter to move from one target to the next very rapidly with no delay whatsoever. However, because a 20 gauge has much less power and less shot than a 12 gauge it is absolutely critical that a shooter always hit ever shotgun target dead center.
Budget
There are plenty of good shotgun options in the $500-$2500 price range. Often times you can find a better 3 Gun shotgun at the higher price ranges but often the difference in quality is not so great as the difference in price. If money is not a big deal, then by all means, get the highest quality 3 Gun shotgun you can find that matches your personal preferences regardless of price.
However for most 3 Gun shooters price is always an important factor to consider and you should carefully consider your personal preferences and the degree to which you believe each affects your accuracy, speed, and consistency to the greatest extent. You may find that it is worth spending some extra money for certain aspects and not for others.
In general, you can modify some very reasonably priced shotguns to make them into top performing 3 Gun shotguns without spending much money at all. In the next few pages we'll look at some specific shotguns that work well for 3 Gun competitions all the way from the higest priced down to the low priced.
Look at specific 3 Gun shotgun options>
What is important is that you patiently search and learn what works for you and then stick with that. Always be open to change if you come across something that works even better for you down the road, but whatever you do, don't let other people's opinions and preferences effect your decision...go with what feels good to you. It is definitely worth trying out alot of shotguns and reading reviews on alot of shotguns compared side-by-side. As you learn what aspects of shotguns make the most difference for you, reading such reviews will become more and more valuable to you because you will know which pieces of the puzzle are the most critical to your own personally accuracy and speed in shotgun shooting for 3 Gun competitions or any other competition.
The primary personal preference factors that you should consider when find your best 3 Gun shotgun are:
Body Size
If you are relatively small, carrying a heavy 12 gauge shotgun can get tiring, slow you down, fatigue you, and consequently cause you to shoot inaccurately. Not only that, but the powerful kick that a 12 gauge shotgun creates can throw you off balance, cause you to lose sight of your next target and force you have to waste time regaining your balance and re-acquiring your shotgun target. This is simply not acceptable when you are in a 3 Gun competition and speed is the name of the game. In this case, it may be worth shooting a 20 gauge and just learning to be very accurate so as to make sure that you hit all of your 3 Gun shotgun targets dead center.
On the other hand, if you are big and/or very strong a 12 gauge 3 Gun shotgun may actually feel light to you and not fatigue you at all. The kick may not throw your balance or aim off between shots at all. If this is the case the extra power of the 12 gauge would be an advatage to you because it will give you a little margin for error when shooting at the shotgun targets in a 3 gun competition. Since your shotgun has so much power, you may be able to drop big steel target even when you don't hit them dead center.
Experience
Some people who have been shooting a pump shotgun for their entire life are extremely fast at shooting with a pump shotgun. Cocking between shots has become second nature to them and as a result this action gets exceedingly fast. Often people like this can actually shoot faster with a pump shotgun than most other shooters can with a semi-automatic shotgun. In this case, these shooters may consider using a pump shotgun for their 3 Gun shotgun because in spite of its reputation for being slower, the truth is that for them it is actually extremely fast because of their speed and skill at pumping the shotgun and pump shotguns are much less likely to jam or malfunction than semi-automatic shotguns so on that aspect these shooters will have a distinct advantage.
Accuracy
For shooters that are extremely accurate shooting a shotgun, there may be an adavtage to shooting a 20 gauge simly because it has such a minimal kick and minimal muzzle rise, allowing the shooter to move from one target to the next very rapidly with no delay whatsoever. However, because a 20 gauge has much less power and less shot than a 12 gauge it is absolutely critical that a shooter always hit ever shotgun target dead center.
Budget
There are plenty of good shotgun options in the $500-$2500 price range. Often times you can find a better 3 Gun shotgun at the higher price ranges but often the difference in quality is not so great as the difference in price. If money is not a big deal, then by all means, get the highest quality 3 Gun shotgun you can find that matches your personal preferences regardless of price.
However for most 3 Gun shooters price is always an important factor to consider and you should carefully consider your personal preferences and the degree to which you believe each affects your accuracy, speed, and consistency to the greatest extent. You may find that it is worth spending some extra money for certain aspects and not for others.
In general, you can modify some very reasonably priced shotguns to make them into top performing 3 Gun shotguns without spending much money at all. In the next few pages we'll look at some specific shotguns that work well for 3 Gun competitions all the way from the higest priced down to the low priced.
Look at specific 3 Gun shotgun options>